Automobile-buffer



G. A. LYON. AUTOMOBILE BUFFER.

APPLICATION HIED JULY l5, I919.

Patentedl Dec. 231919.

GEORGE ALBERT LYON, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

AUTOMOBILE-BUFFER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. M119.

Application filed July 15, 1919. Serial No. 810,937.

1 '0 all whom it may concern:

I Be it known that I, GEORGE ALBERT LYON, acitizen of the United States,and resident of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, State ofPennsylvania, have made a certain new and useful Invention Relating toAutomobile-Buffers, of which the following is a specification, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing.

The invention of this application, which is a continuation in part of myco-pending application No. 311,906, renewed July 18, 1919, that is,contains subject-matter taken therefrom, relates to automobile buffersformed of or comprising resilient strips of steel or other metal and inwhich the strips or at' least the cgnnector portions thereof are given acurved or otherwise bent or non-pla form cross-section so as to promotethe alining action of the connector portions *of such cooperating stripswhen bolted, clamped or otherwise forced together in assembling thebuffer. Additional 1 alining action may be secured by forming at; leastone of such connector portions with an alining flangeadapted tocooperate with the other connector portion of the cooperating buffermember and'these flanged or bent sections naturally increase thestiffness and resilient strength of the buffer members which isdesirable from some standpoints. In the accompanying drawinf which showsin a somewhat diagiammilitic way illustrative embodiments of theinvention,

l igure connected supporting devices secured to a Ford automobile.

2 is a view thereof taken substantia 1y along the line 2-2 of F 1g. 1.

lg. 3 is an enlarged transverse section taken along the line 3- -3 ofFig. 2 showing one type of cooperating connector portions"- which may beused.

,Fig. 4 is a plan view of another form of automobile buffer.

-Fig. 5 is an enlarged transverse section thereof taken along the'line5-5 of Fig. 4.

Figs. 6 to 9 are corresponding transverse sections showing other formsof resilient strip buffer members or connector portions thereof whichmay be used. a

Fig. 10 is a plan view of another form of automobile buffer; andi Fig.11 is an enlargedtransverse section taken along the line l1 -11-of Fig.10. I I

The resilient front portionof the buffer .6 of the bufier.

1 is a plan View of a. buffer and position. by

shown in Fig. 1 may. consistof two resilient loop 4;- which. ispreferably'bent slightly rearward and joined by a curved portion 5 to aconnector portion which is adapted to be bolted or otherwise connectedto the-relatively rigid extension or attaching members This attachingmember which is preferably of stifi'ened flanged construction may bebolted or otherwise connected to the front of one of the side frames 7of the automobile.

This may be effected by using the-arm 9 of the headlight or lamp 8securctl lio each of the side frames of the ordinary Ford automobile andusually extending from a bracket 10 which engages the outer side of thecar frame and extends beneath the lower flange thereof to which it maybe secured by a nut 11. The relatively rigid attaching member of thebuffer may comprise three parts 12, 13, 14, the forward and rearportions 13. and 1 1 being preferably of flanged or right angledcross-section, comprising a vertical flange 18' and atop flange 68 asshown in Fig. 3, and the intermediate portion 12 being, if desired, ahorizontal plate or portion which connects the forward and rear endsofthis member and may rest uponthe lamp arm9 and its'bracket 10. Theseparts may be held in firm and rigid. contact by means of a yoke orsecuring U-bolt 15 whose lower looped portion may extend beneath thehorizontal part of the bracket 10 and engage the securin bolt 11,

thereof andthe upwardly projecting ends of this securing bolt may passthrough open ings inthe plate 12 and be threaded for engagement" by nutswhich bear upon the top of the plate 12 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Therear end of this attaching member may be bent downward beneaththe'bottomflange of the" side frame 7 of the automobileso that this the bolt mgflange 17 beingformed on this securing or anchoring nut. if desired--The vertical flange of .the forward portion 13 of this attachi gigmember of the buffor may be of curved orconcaudcbnveir crossportion 28maybe bolted in, q

16, a laterally project-' the resilient bars or strips 1, 2 may continuethroughout the entire length of the same and serves to stifien theseparts of the bufffer and enable it to better resist bending strains ascompared to a flat bar, the spring yielding action of the buffer takingplace largely in the end loops 4iand curved portions 5.

In the form of buffer shown in Fig. 4 the impact receiving portion whichmay be formed of one or more resilient or spring steel strips may, ifdesired, be given a forwvardhy bowed or arched outline of substantially;uniform curvature. As indicated this impact receiving member maycomprise the spring steel strips having the connector portions 29, 30,whlch mayoverlap and reinforce each other throughout a considerableextent of the buffer front and may be a'djustably connected by suitableclips or clamping members, such as- 38, which may tightly clamp the ends45, &6 of these front strips in position when the bolts 31 are tightenedto draw the ends 32 of each of these clips together. These impactreceiving members may be conveniently made of spr ng steel strip whichhas been originally rolled or otherwise formed sons to have a curved orbent cross-section as ndicated} in Fig 5 so that a considerable almingaction is secured between tliepooperating connector portions of suchstrips because" of the curved, bent or non-planiform crossesection giventhereto. It is of course understood that this form of reinforced bufferfront or impact receiving member may be adjusted so as to have anydesired width by clamping or securing the overlapping spring strips 29,30 in desired position. In this way the integral end loops d which maybe formed in these spring strips may extend out to the desired extentbeyond the wheelsof the automobile or other vehicle. The ends of thesespring strips or members may be turned inward substantially parallel tothe adjacent forward, portion of the corresponding strip so as to formthe inturned ends 43 to which separate attaching members which arepreferably also of resili ent or tempered spring steel strip may beadjustably or otherwise connected. Attaching members of this charactermay in some cases be advantageously formed of spring steel strip whichhas bBQHJOllQd to give it a suitably curved or bent aliningcross-section sothat the connector portions of these cooperating bufferstrips fit together so as to be rigidly held in vertical alinementwhenthey are bolted or clamped at one or more points as by such a clip orclampin device as is shown in'Fig. 5. A single clip 38 of this characteris often sufficient to insure the desired positioning and secureconnection between two such bent cross-section connector portions 42,a3, since even when forced together at a single point thesenon-planiform strips have a decided self-alining tendency -whichprevents their slipping or moving out of vertical alincment. If desired,the securing ends 4A- of these attaching members may be flattened so asto coiipcrate to better advantage with the vehicle frames against whichthey may be clamped or bolted in any desired way. Fig. 6 shows agenerally similar form of bent section connector portions ofcotiperating buifer members which may be used in this general way as theconnector portions of the Fig. i bufi'er, or,indeed, the con nectorportions of the Fig. l bufi'er may be given this form, if desired. Inthis case the flanged connector portion 18 of the attaching member whichmay have an integral flange 68 may be formed with a concave face againstwhich the convex face of the resilient front strip 2 of the buffermember may be secured as by the bolt 21. Fig. 7 shows another form ofcooperating curved or bent cross-section connector portions which mayadvantageously be used on cooperating buifer members. In. this case,while the resilient strip connector portions are curved throughout,their central portions are son'iewhat flatter or less curved as comparedto the greatercurvature of the inclined alining edge portions 47 ofthese two members 4C8, 50. When, for example, two such connectorportions are bolted together by a bolt 51 their alining angular edgeportions are forced into engagement and since they have substantiallythe same inclination they exert a considerable alining action which isof course increased in proportion to the force with which the two stripsare brought together at their central portions 49. This form ofself-alining angular edge spring strips may be advantageously used, forexample, in the Fig. 4 buffer, and of course the connector portions mayobviously be clamped together instead of bolted, if desired.

Fig. 8 shows another form of bent sectioned buffer cennector portionswhich may be used in which the central parts or portions of these stripsmay be practically or substantially flat as at-55, while the aliningedge portions 5% are bent or inclined back ward at substantially thesame angle in these two cooperating connector members or portions 52,58. When such cooperating buffer members are bolted or clamped togethertheir edge flanges or alining portions .are forced into engagement so asto exert a.

mutually faliningiantmn each other, while l. fl

if the strips are of substantially equal thicknessthroughout, a space isleft between the adjacent flat central portionsof the strips whichlocalizes ,tlie engagement between them at their edge pdrtions. Fig. 9shows still another forln'of-bent cross-section con nector portionswhich may be used at the buffer front or at the connection between theattaching member and the buffer. In this case the stripsfi'l', 58, whichmay advantageously be formed of resilient spring steel which may behardened and ten'ipered may have inclined or bentalining faces orportions 56 forn'iing an angle of about 90 or so and exerting a powerfulmutually alining action when the two strips are clamped or boltedtogether, as for instance, by the bolt bl which may advantageously beformed with a special head to accomn'iodate or fit around the convexface of the outer or forward strip. The angular or ll-shaped washer66n1ay advantageously be arral'iged beneath the nut and may fit Withinthe angular recess of the strip 58 so as to have more desirabletightening action. This form of bent selfalining buffer connectorportions which may correspond to a prerolled spring steel strip formingthe front or other portion of the automobile bufier ma be used in any ofthe forms of the but er illustrated herein as is the case with the otherbent or curved section connector portions described. I p

F 10 shows still another form of automobile buffer which may in thiscase comprise a single buffer front or impact receiving member 59 whichmay be of forwardly bowed or arched outline so that the central portion62 projects beyond thecnd portions thereof. As indicated in section inFig. 11 this front strip 59 may be of bent or angular cross-section, thetwo angular faces 61 being arranged at a relatively large or fiatnngleto each other 120 1 130 sharp angular appearance as in the Fig. 9construction and thus give a smoother and somewhat more pleasingappearance,. for which purpose the ends of this buffer front may also becurved back or reduced as indi cated. The attaching members 60 may, if dsired, be formed ofsimilarly bent spring steel strip and may have anoutwardly curved portion 61 gradually n'lerging into the curvature ofthe adyacent portion of the bufler front n'ieinber so that the ends 63of these attaching members have substantially the same horizontal.curvature as the inner portion. of the bufier fron and as indicated inFig. 11 the crosssections of these connewt-or portions correspond so asto effect a desirable alininp; action when these connector is are boltedor clamped together in hit: way. Tn this instance a clip device as ofthe general type and making an. angle of about or so so as not to havesuch a ber whattis desired to be secured by Letters Patent set forth inthe appended claims. I clain1- 1. The automobile buffer resilient bufferfront formed of twos ring steel strips having relatively adjustablecooperating connector portions and each having an integral resilient.end loop formed with an inturned attacher connector 'portion,cooperating spring strip attacher members having connector portionsadapted to" cooperate with the corresponding connector portions of thebufl'er front, and connecting devices adjustably securing tbgether saidcooperating connector portions, some of said connector portions having astifiening bent .alining cross section comprising a relatively flatcentral portion and more angular edge portions adapted to be forced intoengagement with a coiiperating member when said connector portions-aresecured together.

2. The automobile buffer comprising a resilient buffer front formed oftwo spring steel strips having relatively adjdstable-cooperatingconnector portions and attacker connector portions, cooperating attachermembers having connector portionsv adapt-. ed to cooperate with thecorresponding connector portions of the bufi'er front, and connectingdevices adjustably securing together said cooperating connectorportions,

some of saidconnector portions having a stiffening alining crosssection. comprising angular edge portions adapted to be forced intoengagement with a cooperating mem when said connector portions aresocured together. l i v 3. The automobile louder comprising aresilientbuffer front formed oftwo spring steel strips having relativelyadjustable cooperating connector portions, and connect:

comprising a.

inp; devices adjustably securing together said,

coiiperating connector portions, some of said connector portions havinga similar stiffening alining cross section comprising angular edgeportions adapted to be forced into engagementghhen said connectorportions are secured together.

The automobile buifei. comprising a; re silrent bufi'er front formed ofspring steelstrip having lntegral res lient end loops each formed withan inturned connector portion substantially parallel to the adjacentfront portion of the strip, cooperating spring strip attaching membershaving forwardly and outwardly curved portions and end connectorportions adapted to cooperate with the corresponding connector portionsof the buffer front, and connecting devices securing together saidcooperating connector portions, said connector portions having analining cross section comprising a relatively flat slightly curvedcentral portion and more inclined angular edge portions adapted to beforced into engagement when said 0011- nector' portions are securedtogether.

5. The automobile bufier comprising a resilient buffer front formed ofspring steel strip having integral resilient end loops each formed withan'inturned connector portion, cooperating spring strip attachingmembers having forwardly and outwardly curved portions and end connectorportions adapted to cooperate with the corresponding connector portionsof the buffer front, and connecting devices securing together saidcooperating connector portions, said connector portions having analining cross section comprising a relatively flat central portion andmore inclined edge portions adapted to be forced into engagement whensaid connector portions are secured together.

6. The automobile buffer comprising a resilient bufi'er front formed ofspring steel strip having integral resilient end loops each formed withan inturned connector portion, cooperating spring strip attachingmembers having end connector portions adapted to cooperate with thecorresponding connector portions of the bufier front, and connectingdevices securing together said cooperating connector portioiils, saidconnector portions having an alining cross section comprising inclinededge portions adapted to be forced into engagement when said connectorportions are secured together. #7. The automobile buffer comprisingresilient tempered spring steel strip members formed with overlappingconnector portions and having similar cooperating alining cross-sectionscomprising angular-1y bent alining edge portions and means to hold saidconnector portions together.

8. The automobile buffer comprising resilient members formed withoverlapping connector portions having cooperating aiming cross-sectionscomprising bent alining edge portions and means'to hold said connectorportions together.

9. The automobile buffer gcomprisingi spring steel strip members eachhaving asimilar alining cross-section comprising a relatively fiatcentral portion and an angularly bent alining edge portion and clampingmeans to hold together the @309.

operating connector portions of said m mbers.

10. The automobile bufier including a resilient member having an aliningcross-secti'on comprising a bent alining edge portion and clamping meansto hold together the cooperating connector portions of said members.

11. The automobile buffer comprising spring steel resilient stripmembers formed with cooperating overlapping connector portions havingsimilar alining cross-section comprising an angularly bent alining edgeportion and clamping means to hold said connector portions together.

12. The automobile buffer comprising resilient strip members andcooperating overlapping connector portions having similar aliningcross-section com rising a bent alining edge portion and c amping meansto hold said connector portions together.

13. The automobile buffer comprising re silient strip members andcooperating connector portionshaving alining cross-section comprising abent alining edge portion and clamping means to hold said connectorportions together.

14. The automobile bufier comprising a resilient steel strip memberformed ith a connector portion having a non-pla riformaliningcross-section and a bent edge and means to hold said connectorportion in on gagement with another cooperating buffer member.

15, The automobile buffer comprising a resilient steel strip member anda connector portion having a non-planifor1n alining cross-section andmeans to hold said counect-or portion in engagement with anothercooperating buffer member..

16. The automobile bufier comprising resilient strip members each havinga connector portion and clamping means to hold said connector portionstogether, at least one of said connector portions having an aliningcross-section of non-uniform. shape to promote alinement when saidclamping means hold said connecting portions together.

17. The automobile buffer comprising a resilient strip member having aconnector portion and a cooperating connector portion andcla-mping meansto hold said connector portions together, said connector portions havingcooperating alining cross-sections to promote their. alinement when saidclamping means hold them together.

18. The automobile bufi'er formed of spring steel strip having greatervertical width than thickness to render the same vertically rigid whilemore resiliently yieldlocated adjacent the automobile w eels,said

1,325,743 a rag b-nfi'er comprising cooperating connector withcooperating alining cross-sections inportions having aliningcross-section an W eluding a projecting portion and clamping clampingmeans to hold said connector por means cooperating with said connectorportions together while said alining cross-sections to force themtogether. 20 time promote alinement thereof. 20. The automobile butterformed of ver- 19. The automobile bufier formed of retically rigidelements, said bufl er comprissilient strip and relatively rigidVertically ing a transversely extending impact receiv- While moreresiliently yielding in horizontal ing member, connected attachingmembers directions, said butter comprising a transand interposed endloops adapted to be 10- 25 ersely extending impact receiving membercated adjacent (the automobile Wheels, said and end portions adapted tobelocated adbufi-"er comprising cooperating connector jacent theautomobile Wheels attaching portions having alinlng cross-section andportions adapted to be attached .to the autoclamping means to hold saidconnector por-' mobile and located at adjustable distances tionstogether While said alining cross-sec- 30 apart to fit different widthautomobiles, said tions promote the alinement thereof. strips comprisingconnector portions formed GEORGE ALBERT LYON.

